Wednesday, 30 June 2010

Photoworks, one of the UK's leading agencies for photography, is seeking to appoint a new Director following the appointment of David Chandler as Professor of Photography at the University of Plymouth.

The new Director will provide artistic vision, leadership and ambition for the organisation, building on its outstanding achievements of the last decade and taking it forward into a new and exciting period of further development. This post demands exceptional leadership qualities and we are seeking a respected professional in the field of photography with a minimum of five years experience at a senior level in an arts or related organisation.

As well as proven management skills, you will have a thorough and authoritative knowledge of contemporary photographic practice and be able to demonstrate notable achievements in organisational development and growth. You will be a strong team player, with the ability to motivate and inspire colleagues, and the confidence to advocate and operate for Photoworks regionally, nationally and internationally across a broad network of artists, individuals, trusts and organisations.

Collections is a new initiative that has been set up by Troika Editions to provide photography organisations with the opportunity to showcase their own art collections online and pursue alternative funding avenues through the sale of limited edition prints.

As a not-for-profit organisation the net proceeds from all sales of limited edition prints in the 1000 Words Collection will go entirely back into supporting 1000 Words Photography Magazine and help finance our extended programme of exhibitions and events including workshops; portfolio reviews; talks; panel discussions as well as prizes and awards.

Wednesday, 23 June 2010

At the invitation of photography student Eva Napp1000 Words was privy to attend the MA degree show for Communications Design at Central Saint Martins, London and we were generally impressed by the work on display. Of the students on the course a handful had concentrated on photography as their chosen medium. One body of work in particular that caught our attention was that of young French conceptual photographer Marie Galanti, titled Therefore I Am. The series comprises four large scale photographs of four partially naked individuals standing on plinths, staring at the audience. A man with a semi-erect penis has just obviously ejaculated on himself, a women is menstruating with blood trickling down her thigh, another man is urinating and elsewhere a different woman again is drawling from her mouth. The work is interesting not for any shock value but because it appears very ordinary yet exposure to it on this scale certainly has an emotional impact, especially set against a very sterile environment, intentionally medical or nineteenth century anthropological.

Below are some of Galanti´s words on the project:

"When Descartes claimed "I think, therefore I am" in 1637; he suggested the primacy of the thinking over anything else and the separation between the body and the mind.In 2010, in the frame of my MA photographic project, I answer:

- I urinate therefore I am,- I menstruate therefore I am,- I ejaculate therefore I am,- I salivate therefore I am.

The series Therefore I am wants to reveal an essence and create a confrontation with our raw and inner nature. It presents the body as liberated and complicates the simplistic distinctions made between sexual, gendered body and organic, clinical body and looks at the raw and natural human and display these denied bodily fluids, which transgress the boundaries of our body and go beyond our rational control."

Next year Central Saint Martins will set up a new MA dedicated to photography and the course leader will be documentary photographer David Moore. So far this is all 1000 Words has been told: "We have a grand vision for what it might achieve, it is the first time Central Saint Martins has ran a dedicated MA in the medium and we are going for something that will try and sit outside of what is currently being offered across town, undefined as that may be!"

From the early history of photo books to contemporary practices this seminar will cover the gamut of what makes a good book. Over the course of the day, under the guidance of our experienced professionals you will learn about editing, constructing your narrative as well as the practicalities of distribution - whether it be a print run of thousands or a self published book limited to just a few hundred copies.

Held at HOST Gallery in London the weekend kicks off with a welcome drinks party and evening session on Friday. Enroll now to be educated and entertained in the exclusive company of this small select group.

We let out a big "hurrah" in the studio when this work from Rian Dundon came across our desks. While the project seeks to examine the culture of fame and beauty in China within the context of the country´s blossoming celebrity industry, it has plenty by way of reserves of poignancy. Titled Behind the Scenes with Fan Bing Bing, the series is the result of Dunden spending nearly year travelling with the Chinese actress and fashion icon Fan Bing Bing, photographing her world of nouveau riche celebrity privilege and its endless series of film sets, promotional events and luxury hotels. "In a China that idolises material wealth and physical beauty Fan Bing Bing represents the popular ideal," says the photographer adding; "She is one of the most sought after actresses in East Asia and her image is ubiquitous in newsstands and on billboards across the region."

Rian Dundon is a Beijing based, American photographer and writer from Monterey, California. He has lived in Mainland China since 2005 and speaks Mandarin Chinese. Rian was born in 1980 and earned a B.F.A. in Photography and Imaging from New York University in 2003. He is a dual citizen of Ireland and the United States.

Rian has exhibited in solo and group shows at Beijing Photo Spring, The Camera Club of New York, The New York Photo Festival, and The Angkor Photography Festival. He has lectured on his work at New York University and East China Normal University in Shanghai. In 2007 Rian received a Tierney Fellowship in support of his work on fringe youth culture in central China.

Rian's photographs and writing have been featured in publications including The Irish Times Magazine, Newsweek, OUT, TIME, Stern and Swindle Magazine. He is a regular contributor at New America Media, the leading national advocate for ethnic media in the United States.

Monday, 14 June 2010

"Babel Tales", writes Jesper Elg of V1 Gallery, Copenhagen "is a series of works that focus on human relations (or the lack thereof) in big cities. His project is a junction between documentary photography and manipulated photography. Through repetition and juxtaposition Funch zooms in on human similarities and collective behaviour and ends up creating a strange poetic and detailed picture of our presence as both individuals and community in the public sphere. His uncanny work raises questions of reality contra fiction and challanges our notion of photography as being a depiction of a certain moment in time. Funch’s work are documents of moments that never existed as they are composed of several hundred moments taken over the duration of several weeks for each piece. By shooting in the exact same position over a period of time, Peter is able to superimpose images on top of each other and create a fictional work base on documentary photography."

Peter Funch originally hails from Denmark but now lives and works in New York. He studied photojournalism at The Danish School of Photography in 1999 and since then has been freelancing and worked on numerous personal projects. Funch has done several solo exhibitions around Europe and is represented at The Danish Pavilion at World Expo in Shanghai. Babel Tales has been co-published as a book by V1Gallery Copenhagen and the photographer.

Starting in 1976, Andy Warhol shot several rolls of film every week and selected images for his book Andy Warhol’s Exposures, published in 1979. He had intended to title it Social Diseases but his concept was heavily watered down by his publishers at the time and many of the selected images were removed. This book presents the previously unpublished and unexhibited photographs,over 70 unique vintage black and white photographic prints, that Warhol originally selected for his book. It has been edited and introduced by Bob Colacello, who was also executive editor of the original book.

“There is a sense of intimacy as well as of voyeurism, of funny-looking, insecure, wistful Andy, through flattery and attentiveness, trying to connect. Yet, because he was not just any photographer but a famous artist, a star, there is often a sense that the looking is being done at the man with the camera as well as by him. In some cases, the subjects are clearly performing for their fellow luminary, or close friend, or boss. As spontaneous as these images may seem, they are intrinsically staged, with Warhol himself as both chronicler and catalyst of the moments he is documenting. And what moments they are! Only Andy could get David Hockney in extra-brief running shorts, or Susan Sontag batting her eyelashes across a fancy restaurant table at Gloria Vanderbilt, or Halston’s Venezuelan window dresser and lover, Victor Hugo, sitting under Goya’s Red Boy in Kitty Miller’s Park Avenue parlor …. ” (Bob Coacello)

Special price for 1000 Words readers £15.00 Free shipping within the United Kingdom available

It is two years to the day since the launch of 1000 Words Photography Magazine and what a journey it has been. There have been many highlights but the recent news that our sister site, 1000 Words Photography Blog ranked #3 in Creative Tourist’s list of Top 25 UK Arts & Culture Blogs was definitely the icing on the cake.

So without further ado it gives us enormous pleasure to inform you that the Summer issue “Horizons” is available to view now at www.1000wordsmag.com

Featuring an overview of David Birkin’s performance photographs, a special book review of the new monograph from Sarah Pickering, Explosions, Fires and Public Order, as well as essays on Emily Hanako Momohara, Massimo Vitali and Nuno Cera and an exhibition review of Michael Corridore’s Angry Blake Snake at The Aperture Foundation Gallery, New York, once again 1000 Words includes a remarkably international cast of contributors and brings together a unique combination of perspectives that explore the limits of photography’s potential.

In the books section, we cover Asger Carlsen: Wrong, Miroslav Tichý and The Pleasures of Good Photographs by Gerry Badger.